The University meets new freshmen
The firing of a cannon shot from the Peter and Paul Fortress signalled the beginning of the 294th academic year at St Petersburg University. It was anticipated by thousands of yesterday’s applicants who were gathered on Academician Sakharov Square to meet the initiation day of St Petersburg University students.
This year the average score of the Unified State Examination for government-funded places in St Petersburg University has increased again and amounted to a record 91.7. This means that only the best of the best could enter the first university of the country. There are 3294 first-year students in the bachelor’s and specialist’s degree programmes. They come from 80 regions of Russia, and more than 70% of those enrolled on the budget were non-resident in St Petersburg.
The Rector of St Petersburg University Nikolay Kropachev congratulated the freshmen for their enrolment in the university. He noted that the average score of students at St Petersburg University, even in places with tuition fees, is much higher than the average score of entrants who became students of government-funded programmes of other higher educational institutions of the city.
«Realise that you are winners, but this is only the first stage that you have passed. You must remain winners so that we can be proud of you», said Nikolay Kropachev. «Now there are a lot of graduates of St Petersburg University beside me, and when I am asked about the best achievements of St Petersburg University, I mention their names. The country is strong due to its people, and the University due to its graduates. And I would like that in future years we will recollect your names as well».
St Petersburg University accepts congratulations on the new academic year on this day from the Head of the Government Dmitry Medvedev, Presidential Aide (Assistant to the Russian Federation President) Andrey Fursenko, members of the University Board of Trustees: Chairman of the Board of PJSC «Inter RAO» Boris Kovalchuk, Chief Executive Officer of PJSC «NK Rosneft» Igor Sechin, General Director of PJSC «Severstal» Aleksey Mordashov, Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Igor Artemyev and many others.
Honored guests and the new university students were addressed by the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Aleksandr Bastrykin- a graduate and a professor of the University. «St Petersburg University leads the competition, like our great city,» said Aleksandr Bastrykin. «It has given many great and famous people to St Petersburg and Russia. You must become followers of this great tradition and dedicate your abilities and talents to our Motherland».
The Chairman of the Account Chamber of the Russian Federation, Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St Petersburg University Aleksey Kudrin reminded freshmen that independence is one of the important qualities of the new time, and advised paying attention to self-education. «You are lucky to be studying at one of the best universities in our country and, probably, the world,» said Aleksey Kudrin. «Here you have wonderful opportunities that allow you to become academicians, Nobel laureates and ministers. Now they are in your possession, and it depends on you how successfully you will use them. »
Lyubov Sovershaeva, Deputy Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation in the North-Western Federal District, noted that the Day of the First-year student of St Petersburg University is a significant event for the whole city, which Aleksandr Beglov, Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation to the Northwestern Federal District, could not ignore and read from the stage his congratulatory address to first-year students. Lyubov Sovershaeva added that in order to obtain a diploma, it is extremely important to work hard. «And I very much hope that after graduating from the University you will be just as happy on the threshold of the next stage of your life, because the diploma of St Petersburg University increases your chances of success in the future,» Lyubov Sovershaeva emphasised.
During the ceremony, new students of St Petersburg University delivered an oath, which allowed them to enter the university brotherhood. The best freshmen of the year 2018 received student tickets from the hands of the rector of St Petersburg University Nikolay Kropachev and the guests of honour of the ceremony. In honour of those whom the University today accepted into its ranks, the famous student anthem of Gaudeamus was performed by the choir of St Petersburg University. The festive day ended on the Spit of Vasilievsky Island, where traditionally, having written down their cherished desires, the university students sent free ships «the ships of hope».